James Hall and Grant Curry
of Mary My Hope/The Pleasure Club/solo artist

 

May 5th, 2004 at the Caledonia Lounge in Athens, Georgia

 

LK: How long have you two been working together musically?

Grant: James and I have known each other since late ’91--We had rehearsal spaces right next door to each other, in a warehouse in New Orleans. I won some tickets one night at the college radio station to go see James Hall. I was unaware of it all. The music that they were doing was the language that I understood immediately. What I was doing at the time was fairly uninteresting. I just made a major life change and left a career in drug counseling, and I was kinda starting late. I was about 24 at the time. I was in search of the magic band that I knew I wanted to be a part of. I approached James not long after that show, which I was absolutely floored by, and I asked if they were looking for a bass player, because there was an absence of one. There actually was a drummer that night, that was kinda keeping time, so we got together, within a week, and I think James and Lynn had been looking for a bass player for quite some time, and it had been really frustrating for a while. I guess I just kind of fit in. I guess it was no mystery. We did inherently understand what the other was doing.

James: In my opinion, we did want to put together the best band that we could, post the Geffen release, and that band breaking up. I think it’s important to note that Grant and my first meeting was not a musical jam session, or anything like that--we actually got together and hung out, and ate together, and listened to records…at least for me personally that is a very crucial part of playing music with somebody. Functionally, you are in bed with them, and it helps to like someone that you are in bed with. I think that we found that we really liked some of the same stuff. The Velvet records coming out, Ziggy Stardust, and things that we were both interested by. We had a lot of records in common, and still do, and I think it is a really rare thing for people that are going to continue to do music to find a common link.

With doing things as kind of a solo artist versus doing things as a band, I felt like if there is more to share in, there is more that people are willing to give too, and that was like an awakening for me of sorts. That sort of awakening, on the level of how much people are interested, and are willing to give, and the teamwork involved in making records, is still going on. I’m still kind of becoming more and more aware of that. I do think that despite the fact that we’re sort-of operating differently, that Grant and I, as far as our tastes go, our tastes are still very much the same and it’s almost freakish to be able to find people that have those convictions in the face of making commercial music. This music--we like it--but it doesn’t necessisarially mean that the world will embrace it the same way we do. It’s been more about starting a cult…a takeover…

Grant: Yeah, because friendships can be very cultish, or relationships you know…

James: We share recipe secrets…

Grant: Well, you know, in your relationship, you have things that are really special, and unique about the two of you, as a unit, and we found at a point in our relationship that our musical partnership would not ride unless we changed, and we worked a little bit differently, and in this band, there are no “sidemen” in this band. Everybody’s got their own place. I think we have a lot of good, different strengths. And the areas that I am weak in, there is someone else amongst the four of us that’s going to be able to sort out what I can’t so well.

James: That is a unique thing about this band--everybody’s gifts and abilities. It’s amazing for me the way these guys are in my life. I’d find at least, that doing music, and growing with every record, would be extremely difficult just given my ability to talk to people outside the unit, and it takes a particular aptitude, a unique aptitude on all of our parts in order to help this thing grow. There are certain things, like in my particular case; high quality audiophile sound is not my strength. I don’t feel I’m great at engineering. I don’t feel that I can make pristine recordings. Some of us, not just Mark and Grant, both of those guys are pretty capable of getting a sound happening. I feel like I can carry it to a certain point, and after that I loose interest, and I’m ready to work on something else. To move somewhere else. And there are certain things that Grant doesn’t have a huge interest in. Michael helps take up some of the slack there as well.

Grant: I think in a lot of our music, like in terms of the musical partnership of James and I, the band, often times where we end up will start from some concept or some idea, or some experience that is shared. And this record, “The Fugitive Kind,” James and I had seen the movie of that title, Marlon Brando, Tennessee Williams, and we didn’t, at that point, see that movie and set out like “let’s make a record about this,” it wasn’t that at all. But that shared experience, both of us were really into the film, and saw it at the Egyptian Theatre in Los Angeles as part of a lecture series, and 2 years later as we are writing a particular song, and it shows up in a lyric. It’s not a concept record, but at the same time, there were experiences that were shared together that find themselves into lyrics, or into the songs one way or another.

James: It is interesting to me, in a band mould, and this in certain ways a healthier way of operating, because it was still kind of doing that back with the old band, I was less willing to see that, that Lynn’s idea helped influence another idea of mine that I brought in, and it just became a point that, you know what, this is music, this is intense, who cares who does what, it’s just not about credit or glory other than the joy of us, and working together. It took me a while to realize that was what was going on, that’s what my life was telling me. I think I’m still learning it, and still seeing it more and more clearly. n terms of the title of this record, “The Fugitive Kind,” I felt like I was snoozing at that particular point, but Grant and Mark went through the lyrics, and they were mining for ideas, and anything they saw that they thought looked good, they plucked out. “The Fugitive Kind” came in, and came across, and it just the fact that it was among a bunch of other things, it just stuck out in my mind and I just started thinking about the setting of the actual film “The Fugitive Kind,” and what it was actually like in rural Louisiana and southern Mississippi, in this actual film compared to where we recorded. It did seem to have a similar feel of rural life meets a decadence, meets more puritanical and at times hypocritical politics and systems.

Grant: It’s a very urban record though, but its music on the run. We made it in the sticks, and made it quickly, and it’s a very urgent record.

James: I feel like I learned eyesight. Like “The Sky’s Gone Out” is a great record, I became aware, that those records, and a lot of the records that I associated with “Echo and the Bunnymen,” and being great records, were recorded in Rockfield, Wales, which is a small town, and it doesn’t have to be recorded in a city to feel urban. That is reflective of us, we all do live in the city, and none of us are country guys at all, all of us have lived in the city for most of our lives, and even though we went to the country to record doesn’t mean that we all got out banjos.

LK: How does living in New Orleans affect your music?

James: For me, not being from New Orleans, there is an influence of African culture. The city is 60 to 70 percent African American, so there is a lot of cross-pollination of influences. I moved down there after leaving Mary My Hope, thinking that I really knew something about music, and inside of a year I realized how little I know and still do know about music. I know nothing about music. I know what I like, and think Grant can say the same thing, but in terms of knowing anything about what we are doing, we are staunch amateurs. We know what’s inspiring to us, but do we always know what will put us in an inspired mood? Do we always know what will lead to a creative idea? Absolutely not. I think that the best thing one can do is focus on enjoyment. An enjoyable headspace. An enjoyable circumstance. Other than that, you are kind of left to the dogs.

Grant: Every time I am asked that, whether it is an interview, or whether it’s just someone who is just curious, I tell them it is a romantic place, it’s very romanticized as far as its musical richness, its artistic richness, so I am always like, okay, who do I like in New Orleans? I feel like I should have a really romantic answer for it, but the truth is, I’m more of an Anglophile, and I am much more fascinated with British rock, and much more influenced by that than anything that came out of New Orleans. I can’t spout off to you about the Meters, I like the Meters, I don’t like everything they ever did, some of it I think is smoke, and some of it is just crap, and that’s the kind of think you really shouldn’t say, but as far as being influenced by the place, it’s not so much influenced by the music, it’s really truly being influenced by the people and the environment.

James: I think that would be the case for us, no matter where we lived. Being influenced by the people that we feel are our friends. Grant has influenced me as much as any artist that I favor, but it’s not in a “gosh, now I play bass so much better now that I’ve been friends with Grant for so long,” it’s more the way a friend can have an impact on you, and an imprint on you. I would like to think that would be the case no matter where we lived. We would seek out true hearts. People that weren’t going to just bullshit us.

LK: I think what we’re getting at, is has any of the creepy vibe seeped in to your aesthetic?

James: Oh definitely. We love the creepy aspects of New Orleans, as well as the creepy aspects of a David Lynch film. I think that is just kind of in our nature, to embrace mystery. Embrace not understanding everything at all times. I think in all levels of culture you need a certain kind of mystery, or else what is the function of religion? The creepy aspect is one foot in sleaze, and one foot in myth. Ghost story, or whatever. I think that would be the same wherever we went. When I was geeking out at length in Los Angeles, made a point of getting a hold of some old folklore, and ghost stories, and tales of hard luck, hangers on, and wannabe stars, and that exists for us in New Orleans. We still have those types in New Orleans. You can find it in Nashville, Tennessee. Ask anyone who lives there about Porter Wagoner--what they know about him. What they know about George Jones. Chances are the decadence on them, us rock and rollers can’t hold a candle to.

Grant: Keep your senses open, wherever you are, you are going to grok creative inspiration. All that said, are James and I looking to leave New Orleans? Half of the band lives in Los Angeles, so it would be a hell of a lot easier if we all lived in the same city. But, I’m not going anywhere; It’s home. It truly is a special place. I do get something there, that is special to me, that is somewhat unique, and it is somewhat different, and I can find the mystery in any city, but the mystery of New Orleans is one that intrigues me more than anywhere else.

James: That said, it is in the people, and the way of life that we see, that I see the most mystery and the most intrigue. We’ve got great architecture. But, I’ve never written a song about a gabled house.

LK: Talk about Blue Screen.

Grant: Blue Screen, I’m getting the David Lynch films, Mulholand Drive, and looking at life through some kind of filter.

James: To me it’s just after the video is over; it’s just a blue screen. Literally our VCR and DVD player, when the film is over, it just goes to a blue screen. It’s amazing how long the other members of my family were all too happy to just let there be a blue screen sitting on in the house. Not a huge fan of T.V., so I like it to be off whenever possible.

LK: Lamppost and Television.

Grant: Lampposts always make me think of New Orleans, iron lamp posts.

James: Lampposts make me think of New York, the lower east side of New York.

And television?

Grant: Tom Verlaine.

James: Most certainly. Television makes me think of snow. That being one of my favorite ways of playing with a T.V. set is finding the different snow channels.

LK: Slow Fear.

Grant: Makes me think of morbid fantasies that I have. I have always had a very morbid fantasy life, ever since I can remember and I don’t know what it is about, I’m sure it’s about how I grew up, and whatever, but I have these fears and fantasies that are so incredible, and so dark and violent and awful. My life is not like that, but my fantasy life is.

James: For me it brings to mind the reoccurring dream of being somewhere high, or driving a vehicle down the street that is 40 or 50 feet up in the air, and coming to a sudden stop and falling off of it, but anytime I have been falling off of buildings or in cliffhanger dreams, my fall is very slow. And there is a balance between falling, realizing the danger, and I am aware of the danger of falling, but I am moving slow.

LK: Do you ever fly in your dreams?

Grant: I do.

James: Well, it’s a lot like swimming. It only takes a few kicks in order to get up in the air, and then you are pretty much on your own. It actually is not flying, it’s swimming through air.

LK: Modern Orange Sky.

Grant: That makes me think of London. London in the late, late spring. Camden town. Getting off the Tube. It’s a bit hot, smelly, a lot of people on it. Get out and start walking to a shop.

James: I think of industry. Nuclear wreckage. I think of an apocalyptic sunset.

LK: Mermaid and Pharaoh.

James: Charlton Heston!

Grant: Charlton Heston! To me, it sounds like really exotic sex.

James: That’s true. You think of a Pharaoh, and a Sphynx, and it kinda goes with elaborate sex positions. “This is called the Lotus. This is called the Sphinx.”

Grant: My wife asked me if I was going to be stranded on an island for the rest of my life and the only other companion there was a Mermaid, would I want the top half of her, or the bottom half. Which part would I want to be the human, and which part would I want to be the Mermaid. Well, we all know where this is going. Kind of in the context of a conversation about sex. I say that I would want to live with the top half being human. And I’m the typical male, so I must be saying this because I’d rather be able to get blow jobs, right? No! It’s because I’d be able to have a conversation, and I would be able to communicate. I wouldn’t be able to talk with a fish.

James: That’s easy. That’s just so easy to answer. I mean, living with a fish head the rest of your life? I can’t imagine it! I can’t fathom it! They don’t have eyelashes, they don’t have eyelids, and their eyes are open all the time! Their mouth is open most of the time! You just can’t do that! Don’t do that to me! I shouldn’t take it personal, I really shouldn’t….

LK: What about black feather limbo?

Grant: That makes me think of a photo shoot that James and I did in 1993, and I happened to be wearing a black feather boa, and my nickname used to be the “Screamin Eagle Drag Queen.” I suppose I have become a little more male over the years. I still tread on the line sometimes I suppose, but I was thinking about that photo shoot recently, and I was thinking maybe I need to get a new black feather boa.

James: It is funny that that boa comes to mind still. I’m not sure if it was mine, but at one point in time I had one at my house. I think about how the way that thing would shed. All the time. It really kinda creeped me out. There is something about it. Fur coats don’t really shed that much. But there is something about feathers. Creeps me out a little. Not just like a straight quill pen. But a mass of feathers is a little bit creepy. Once you learn about science, and the mites and parasites,…let’s just put it this way. I’m not going to get a coat made out of pigeon feathers anytime soon.

LK: White Glitter Notebook.

Grant: Hearing this song, it sounds very Stooges, makes me think of Iggy, and the early seventies, and the classic photos of him you see with the glittery silver pants that were painted on tight, shirtless, standing above the crowd, and throwing peanut butter.

James: Makes me think of the early days of school, and becoming aware of rock and roll. Pre MTV, pre CD’s, and you found out about music as much from other people’s notebooks as you did from anything. I’ll never forget the drawings that friends of mine were making of Bowie and Kiss when we were in third grade. You’d flip the notebook pages, and see these characters, and these designs. After seeing these drawings, it seemed to have nothing to do with straight life. I think that to a certain degree, the moniker of a band name on a notebook still exists, at least to a certain point. But there was a time where is was just uninfluenced rock and roll, and that’s what comes to mind when I hear white glitter notebook. Everyone is using laptops now, but when you think about the age of seven and eight, and when I heard “Rebel Rebel” and heard Kiss records, and Deep Purple, and Blue Oyster Cult, and things like that….man…